Clinton Unveils Global Warming Initiative

On a stage of political all-stars Tuesday afternoon at UCLA, former President Clinton announced a new initiative to help cities combat global warming.

Joined by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Clinton laid out the challenges ahead.

“We have to reduce about 80% of our greenhouse gases over the next 10 years,” said Clinton, whose foundation sponsored the initiative. “It sounds like a daunting task. I don’t believe it is.”

The burning of fossil fuels is blamed for creating most greenhouse gases, which in turn are blamed for trapping heat in the atmosphere and warming the Earth, leading to an array of problems.

Clinton offered a three-prong plan: Use a consortium of large cities to leverage their purchasing power for energy-saving products; offer expert technical assistance to cities trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions; and create better measurement tools to ensure that progress is being made.

As of last month, 164 nations had signed the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels. The United States has not signed the treaty, leading a number of cities and states -- including Los Angeles and led by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels -- to declare they were forging ahead on their own.

At the same time, a group of cities from around the globe, led by Livingstone, is also tackling the problem. He detailed some of the drastic and politically unpopular steps that he took to pry motorists from their cars in London -- most prominently a huge increase in downtown parking fees.

Villaraigosa promised the invited crowd at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management that Los Angeles would not shy from making reductions.

“We can’t think about global warming as some faraway problem of melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels and distant hurricanes,” he said. “It’s our problem here in the city of Los Angeles.”

Villaraigosa noted programs already in place, including getting ships to use electric power while docked at the Port of Los Angeles, planting 1 million trees to absorb carbon dioxide and pushing the Department of Water and Power to secure 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010.

About 5% of Los Angeles’ power now comes from renewable sources.

The DWP relies heavily on coal-burning power plants, considered to be a significant source of greenhouse gases.